The three best-selling vehicles in Australia are utes

UTES HAVE dominated Australian new-vehicle sales in September, with the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton the three best-selling vehicles for the month according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) September 2019 VFACTS report.

When combining 4x4 and 4x2 variants, the Hilux topped the sales charts with 3364 units leaving showrooms in the month. Nipping at the heels of the Hilux were the Ranger (3116 sales) and Triton (3001 sales).

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However, when looking at the 4x4-only segment, the Mitsubishi Triton was the month’s biggest mover, raking in a whopping 2755 sales and finally breaking into the top two on the 4x4 sales charts – a typically impenetrable position shared between the Ranger and Hilux.

Mitsubishi registered an insane 64.6 per cent growth compared to the same month last year to take out second spot and relegate the Hilux to third on the 4x4 sales charts.

Making this spike even more impressive is the overall slump of new vehicle sales, with the Australian market experiencing 18 consecutive months of decreasing sales. In September 2019, the drop was 6.9 per cent overall compared to September 2018, or a total of 6530 fewer vehicle sales.

The LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) market is down 5.4 per cent compared to the same time last month; while the dwindling passenger car market is down a staggering 18.3 per cent.

“It is clear the slower sales rate the market is experiencing is in line with the broader economic environment in Australia,” said Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI.“Of particular concern to the industry are the restrictive regulatory lending conditions currently facing consumers.”

The Ranger, Triton and Hilux were joined by the Hyundai i30 and Mitsubishi ASX as the best-selling overall vehicles in September.